Apparatus for gathering diamond dust



Oct. 11, 1955 BEN-ZION YEHUDA 2,720,067

APPARATUS FOR GATHERING DIAMOND DUST Filed March 4, 1952 I N VENTOR United States Patent 2,720,067 APPARATUS FOR GATHERING DIAMOND DUST Ben-Zion Yehuda, Tel Aviv, Israel Application March 4, 1952, Serial No. 274,807 Claims priority, application Israel March 6, 1951 4 Claims. (Cl. 51-270) My invention relates to apparatus for gathering diamond dust.

At present diamond dust and chips are collected carefully during the cleaving and during the bruiting of diamonds.

No collecting of the diamond dust made during the polishing cutting of the facets of the diamonds was done before my invention.

The polishing of diamonds is always done atop a cast iron lapidarys wheel, which revolves rapidly around a vertical axis, the wheel itself being carefully contructed so as to remain perfectly horizontal while turning on its axis.

The upper surface of the cast iron lapidarys wheel has a rough finish and on it is spread a small quantity of finely ground diamond dust which does the work of polishing the diamonds. It is well known that diamonds can be cut or polished only by the use of diamond dust.

As the lapidarys wheel loses its diamond dust (bort) very quickly and as an average diamond loses about one third of its weight on the lapidarys wheel during polishing it is obvious that any device tending to conserve the diamond dust by its collection or diminishment of the rate at which the wheel loses its dust will have financial value.

The velocity during rotation of the lapidarys wheel causes the disposal of the diamond dust in all directions and it penetrates into the lungs of the workmen and causes damage to their health. The purpose of my invention is to prevent the above described loss of diamond dust by its collecting and also by a diminution of the rate of loss by the lapidarys wheel to increase the period of time that the wheel may be used without fresh diamond dust (bort) being spread atop the wheel.

My apparatus is made in the form of a box having a top substantially parallel to the diamond dust strewn surface of the lapidarys wheel, enclosing the wheel from all sides, having a cover provided with each of the openings, the number and the form of which are adapted for polishing diamonds through them. The box can be removed at will in order to introduce or to take out the wheel, and it is fixed to the table or into the table, in such a manner that it does not touch the revolving wheel.

Apparatus can be made in many forms. In one of the possible forms of execution of my invention, the inner parts of the box have folds in order to gather diamond dust into them.

Another possibility enables fixing magnets or electromagnets inside the box, because the diamond dust is mixed with iron dust from the polishing wheel, in order to concentrate and fix the dust as in the first case.

For this purpose it is possible to use a fluid, or oil, or sticky Wax to be smeared on the inside in places wanted in the box, in order that the diamond dust may be caught or stuck to it.

The openings in my apparatus in every way of execution of my invention could be made in many different forms. My aim is to enable an easy approach to the 2,720,067 Patented Oct. 11, 1955 'ice wheel by the workman and at the same time to keep the box as close thereto as possible; and consequently it is desirable that the openings should be provided with closing windows. These windows may be opened or shut in several different ways, for instance, by means of sliding or depositing, or in other ways.

The apparatus could be manufactured of diiferent kinds of materials such as: iron plates, metal, different plastic materials, ebonite, card-board and other suitable materials. The closing windows may be made of transparent materials.

My invention is further described and illustrated by two forms of embodiment and is shown by way of example in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of an emobdiment of my apparatus (the upper part of the apparatus and the lower part of the table are cut off) and the upper part is suspended on screws.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section of a second embodiment of the apparatus.

Fig. 3 is a perspective and general view of the apparatUS.

In Fig. 1 we see the lower part of the cover lying on the working table 2. The lower part 1 of the cover envelopes the lower part of the wheel 3 revolving on axis 4. The upper part 5 of the cover is hanging and is afiixed by screws 6 to the upper beam (not shown in the drawing). Fig. 3 shows us the apparatus being closed during the work, the upper part of the cover envelopes the wheel and the upper part 5 of the cover is provided with openings 7 covered by transparent material (in slidable frames schematically shown) through them we see diamond dust 8 dispersed on the wheel. In order to enable the introduction of the polishing dop, the polisher slides the frame and opens the window in part or entirely.

In Fig. 2 we see another arrangement of a similar apparatus where the bottom 9 is affixed by its flange to the table plate 2 in which is made an opening in the size of the wheel 3 which revolves within it. The bottom of the lower part of the apparatus has grooves. The upper cover 5 having openings is designed to cover the apparatus.

As is seen the diamond dust reaching the top cover 6 is made to fall back onto the lapidarys wheel 3. Further dust is lost by the wheel at a diminished rate owing to the diminution of air currents by envelopment of the wheel.

What I claim is:

1. In a diamond dust collecting hood adapted to be used in conjunction with a lapidarys wheel having a substantially horizontal, radial working face; an annular base member supportable beneath said wheel, said base member having on the inner periphery a flange extending upwardly toward the wheel and on the outer periphery an upwardly extending flange which surrounds periphery of the wheel, a cover member loosely received within the outer flange of said base member and partially enclosing the upper face and periphery of the wheel said cover member having an opening in the top thereof to permit the application of a dop therethrough to the work face of the lapidarys wheel.

2. In the device as set forth in claim 1 a transparent closure slidingly supported on said cover member for at least partially closing the opening for the dop.

3. The device as set forth in claim 1 in which the base member is provided with grooves to aid in trapping the diamond dust.

4. In an apparatus for grinding diamonds including a horizontal grinding wheel, a catching rim surrounding said grinding wheel at its periphery and having its upper edge protruding above the adjacent upper peripheral edge of the grinding wheel, the side of the catching rim facing the center of said grinding wheel being covered with an adhesive, hart-retaining substance.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Crease Oct. 31, 1911 1,255,040 Ousley Ian. 29, 1918 1,340,213 Burnett May 18, 1920 

